Sunday, January 30, 2005

Freiburg 1-0 Wolfsburg

The Wolves lost their sixth consecutive match away from home on Saturday afternoon, as they lost at bottom-placed club Freiburg in round 19. The good news among the bad for the Wolves is that two of the teams immediately in the Bundesliga table VfB Stuttgart and Schalke; both lost as well. A 57th minute headed goal by fit-again Bajramovic did the damage, taking Freiburg up to second bottom,and dropping the Wolves to 6th place in the table. Erik Gerets’ side could drop to 8th, should Hertha and Werder Bremen win tomorrow…

Forced changes
Wolfsburg’s Coach Erik Gerets was forced to make changes to the side which lost 1-2 at home to Dortmund last time out. Thomas Rytter was ruled out with a knee injury, and D’Alessandro and Klimowicz both missed out with groin problems. Gerets chose Sarpei for his defence and Brdaric up front again after shaking off a bout of the flu. The Belgian coach raised a few eyebrows by picking the amateur midfielder Makiadi fort he clash in the Black Forest.

First chance to WolfsburgThe home side started brightly enough without however troubling the Wolves goal during the opening exchanges. On 6 minutes, it was the visiting side that had the first chance of the match as Martin Petrov set up Thomas Brdaric in the Freiburg box, only to shoot well wide. After that, the game more or less stagnated in midfield. It took until the 19th minute for the home side to make a mark on the game as Ibertsberger crossed to the –unmarked Bajramovic, who had a free header which Simon Jentzsch did well to tip over the crossbar.

Brdaric close again…The game livened up again just before half time, and Freiburg can thank their lucky stars that they didn’t fall behind as Khizaneishvili headed a cross onto the body of a team mate, the ball came to Brdarc who hammered the ball onto the crossbar on 38 minutes. Seconds later, Freiburg almost got their noses in front on 41 minutes as Bajramovic back-heeled the ball to Coulibaly. The Mali international striker found his match in Simon Jentzsch. The last chance of the half fell to Topic who headed over while unmarked on the stroke of half time.

Freiburg score the winning goalThe Freiburg keeper Richard Golz needed all of his almost 2 metre frame as he foiled Petrov who had stolen into the Freiburg box from the left on 53 minutes. Only four minutes later, the Wolves went behind as Tsikitishvili took a corner on the right. Bajramovic rose to power in a bullet-like header leaving Jentzsch no chance whatsoever.

Late flurryThe longer the game progressed, the more the Wolves became, without it has to be said any luck in front of goal. On 78 minutes the Wolves debutant Makiadi popped up in front of the Freiburg goal, only to see Golz spread himself well and even save the follow up shot by Thiam.

Hofland offSeven minutes from time Kevin Hofland added insult to injury by getting himself sent off for a second yellow card offence. After that, Petrov went close but was foiled by Freiburg’s man of the match Golz once again.

Black Forest delight…For Freiburg, it was only the 3rd win of the current campaign, and it allowed them to change places with Hansa Rostock, at least until tomorrow…For the Wolves it was the 6th consecutive away defeat. Next weekend, the Wolves entertain the double winners Werder Bremen. The importance of that match was underlined during the unnecessary defeat in Freiburg in round 19. Erik Gerets has a lot of work to do this week…